Childcare's Positive Impact On Child Development

In today's society, more parents and families have begun relying on various types of child care arrangements in order to meet the challenging demands of having to balance work and family. Now that a high demand for child care is necessary parents are faced with the issue of seeking suitable care that conforms to their standards, state regulations, and qualifications required to ensure the safety and wellbeing of their children enrolled. This task could prove troublesome for most parents especially with recent Surveys of child care centers and family day care homes stating that the majority of child care was not of a high enough standard to have a positive impact on child development, and a disturbing fraction was of a level that could threaten

the child's health and safety (Almanac of Policy Issues, 2014). Many parents aren’t aware of what is obligatory of their states child cares, the prerequisite for safe care, and the personnel credentials of those who work in these locations. This paper will briefly go over the state of Kentucky’s agency that regulates various child care, qualification requirements of those personnel, and the required settings of the various day care types within that state.
Child care licensing regulations are set by individual states and can vary from state to state. In the state of Kentucky, the Cabinet for Families and Children, Division of Child Care is the agency that regulates and license child care facilities along with monitoring their compliance with state standards, and etc. (Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, 2014). This licensing or regulated care is only a baseline for facilities, and only sets the standards of the minimum acceptable health and safety of a program for it to legally operate.
In Kentucky, there are only two types of child care that have to be licensed and those are child care centers which are type I facilities and group child care homes which are type II facilities (Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, 2014). Child care centers (type I facilities) are full or part time care for four or more children in non-residential environment for thirteen or more children (Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, 2014). Group childcare homes (type II facilities) are full or part time care in residence for between seven and twelve children (Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, 2014). Each of these child care environments has different prerequisites that they must obtain according to the state of Kentucky to meet the standard for licensing or certification before providing child care.
Child Care centers are required by the state of Kentucky to be licensed, have their licensing renewed annually, and an unannounced annual inspection done.

Group child care homes must be licensed, and have their licensed renewed every two years (Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, 2014). The staff to child ratios for child care centers differs by the age of the children hence from birth to one year is one adult to five children (1:5), one to two years 1:6, two to three years is 1:10, three to four years is 1:12, four to five years is 1:14, and five to seven years is 1:15 (Military One Source, 2014). The maximum groups sizes differ by age therefore from birth to one year the size is ten, one to two years twelve, two to three years twenty four; four to five years old is twenty eight; and five plus years old is thirty (Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services,

2014).
Group child care homes staff to children ratio is the same as child care centers except group child care homes can only care for a maximum of twelve children, so the adult to child ratio stops at 1:12 for ages four and above. Also, in group child care if any child is under two years old or younger no more than six children, and if any child is two to three years old no more than ten children (Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, 2014).For both settings the child care premises must be kept clean be in compliance with the state Fire Marshal, and local zoning laws. Moreover, for child care centers there is a minimum requirement of thirty five square feet per child inside the building, and sixty square feet per child in the outdoor play areas along with this area being fenced in (Military One Source, 2014).
Furthermore, child care settings meals and nutrition standards must be in accordance with the Department of Public Health’s food safety standards, and they must have a weekly menu posted with the dates in advance within the care facility (Military One Source, 2014).

The director of the child care must be at least twenty one years old, have a GED or high school diploma, a master’s or bachelor’s degree in child developing field, some verifiable experience in an approved setting working with children, or other qualifications that can be found at the Kentucky family services website (Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, 2014). The teachers, assistants, and substitutes must be eighteen years of age with training in first aid, CPR, have orientation, background check, and a certain number of child development training

hours.
In summary, both child care services have various comparable and dissimilar requirements that parent’s and families should become aware of before choosing a facility. Kentucky’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services has more information on the standards that are required of the different child care facilities. Personnel that are interested in more information on these child care setting standards can contact the Director Ideisha Bellamy or Assistant Director Greg Davidson at [phone] or visit the website at http://chfs.ky.gov/os/oig/drcc.htm for more information. Also, Kentucky’s division of regulated child care is located at 275 East Main Street, Frankfort, KY 40621.